Don't Quit 'til You Got Nothing Left!

Cause of Procrastination #3 - Lack of Confidence

With lack of confidence as a cause for procrastination, we often have great ideas and plans but never even get them off of the ground because we don't have the confidence we can actually accomplish what we set out to do.

Essentially, what we're doing when we postpone doing things that will enrich our lives is letting our music die within us. I can't imagine all of the cures for diseases, artwork, music, books, and leadership the world has lost because the progenitor didn't have enough confidence to bring it forth.

From January through December 2006 I thought about writing a newsletter that would empower and inspire people. Everyday I considered how doing something like this would brighten people's lives and help them on their journeys to success. I talked with friends whose opinions I respected and got their feedback. To a person, all of them said that it was a great idea and they could see me writing it. They believed in my ability to motivate an audience.

The only problem was that I didn't believe it. I would say, "Who am I to write about hope, success, faith, and love?" Or, "I want to do it, but who's going to listen to me?" Another of my favorite excuses was, "Suppose I run out of material to write about?" I wrote down the reasons why I should do it and what I would talk about. My mind raced back to when I was a high school student and my writing teacher told me that I "just don't have it." Then I would convince myself that "I'll get to this tomorrow". But, "tomorrow" came and went for 365 days!

Finally, on January 2 2007, I got the nerve to go ahead and do it. I wrote my first newsletter "Take a Chance on Yourself Today!" and emailed it to 20 of my closest friends and family members. I waited nervously for their replies. I was so scared - unnecessarily so - that their feedback would be negative. Instead, the responses I got back were very encouraging. They told me that they were proud of me and that I should keep sending the newsletter. People I didn't know started to email me for advice or to request that I write about certain topics. Other publishers have asked the kid who "just didn't have it" if they could reprint my essays.

Don't worry about your plans being perfect or if you know it all. There are no flawless plans. Nobody has all the answers. The most important lessons will be learned after you get started anyway. If you'll just take a chance on yourself you might be surprised by what you can accomplish.

S. African Entrepreneur's Success Lessons

He was always an A student.

"I went to school without shoes. I knew I had to work hard to make sure I got a better life," says the serious young man in shiny loafers and a well-pressed blazer, owner of a small computer repair and sales company.

But why him? Why has Terrance Mohlala made it when so many others like him in South Africa – one of the least entrepreneurial nations in the world – have not?

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Op-Ed: Daring To Hope, Obama in Iowa

(OP-ED) I heard my first political speech of the '08 presidential race on the car radio today. Four years ago I was so intensely invested in who won the presidency that I flew to Iowa and stood in sub-zero temperatures to volunteer for the Dean for America campaign.

Dean's enthusiastic "screaming" into a crowded hall (filled with deafening noise) where we, his most fervent fans, were gathered (after having just lost Iowa), caused him to lose in other states and the campaign that once fed my political heart, caused it to break.

Today I listened to Barack Obama, and choked up with hope, decided I'd write in a moment when hope is still possible for me. The causcuses in Iowa have not yet begun. No concession speeches have tried to fire up a room where the flame has gone out.

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